Creation and Validation of a Photonumeric Scale for Assessment of Infraorbital Hollows

Abstract

BACKGROUND Validated clinical scales are needed to assess aesthetic improvement of the infraorbital hollows (IOHs) after treatment with dermal fillers. OBJECTIVE To develop an IOHs scale and establish its reliability and sensitivity for grading subjects in clinical trials or routine practice. METHODS AND MATERIALS The Teoxane IOHs Scale (TIOHS), a 5-grade photonumeric scale, was developed based on real-subject photographs and validated through photographic and live subjects' evaluation. RESULTS Clinician intra- and inter-rater agreements during the TIOHS validation were excellent. The mean intrarater-weighted Kappa score between the 2 sessions of photographic validation was 0.92, while inter-rater interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.92 for the combined sessions. The average intrarater-weighted Kappa score and inter-rater ICC for the live validation reached 0.80 and 0.76, respectively. In addition, evaluators identified clinically significant differences between photographs of subjects presenting a 1-grade or 2-grade difference in 82% and 86% of cases, respectively. CONCLUSION The intrarater Kappa scores and inter-rater ICCs met their predetermined acceptance criteria of >0.70. The TIOHS is a repeatable and reproducible clinician-reported outcome for health care providers to classify IOHs in clinical trials and routine patient care. A 1-grade difference on the TIOHS can detect a clinically meaningful difference in infraorbital hollowing.